Man arrested in December 2012 fatal bus accident at Mohegan Sun

MONTVILLE – A Massachusetts bus driver who hit and killed a woman on her way to work at Mohegan Sun a year ago is facing a negligent homicide charge.

Lin Qi Si, 39, of Braintree, Mass., was driving a bus that hit 62-year-old Pui Li Yi of New York as she was crossing Sandy Desert Road the afternoon of Dec. 5, 2012, according to police.

State police arrested Si on Dec. 3 after receiving an accident reconstruction report last month. Si is charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and failure to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk. Free on a promise to appear, Si is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 19 in Norwich Superior Court.

Si, a driver with Travel Sun Bus Co., told police that he picked up passengers in Boston that morning and brought them to Mohegan Sun. Si said he had two years' experience driving buses in the United States and 10 years before that in China. He said he had worked at the company for about a year, according to police.

He also said, according to police, that he had about 10 hours of sleep the night before and had not drank any alcohol.

After dropping off more than 40 passengers at the casino's bus deport, Si told police, he drove the bus to a gas station on the casino property, filled the tank, then headed back to the bus parking area shortly after 3 p.m. He said he was scheduled to leave at 7 p.m.

Si stopped at a red light at the intersection with Sandy Desert Road in front of the tribe's Public Safety Building and prepared to turn left toward the parking lot, police said. He saw a man and woman cross in front of his bus, he said, but because his eyes were on the light waiting for it to turn green, he didn't notice that after crossing, they then started across Sandy Desert Road.

The man walking to work with Yi told police through a Cantonese interpreter that they were walking to work on the sidewalk along Sandy Desert Road from the direction of Route 32. After a walk signal came on, they crossed the intersection in front of the bus using the crosswalk.

As they were crossing Sandy Desert Road, the man said, "We hear and see the bus coming. I start to walk fast forward, I tripped and fell to the ground. I turned around to look behind me and I see (Yi) on the ground in front of the bus with blood on her face. The bus hit her."

The man said Si got off the bus and stopped traffic, called for someone to call 911 and an ambulance and then got down on the ground and tried to help Yi.

Yi was rushed by ambulance to The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, where she died about 90 minutes later.

A state police accident reconstruction report said that without running, it was impossible to cross both intersections before the don't walk signal came on, but when Yi and her co-worker started across Sandy Desert Road, the walk light, which lasts 23 seconds, probably was still lit. Yi was hit, the report said, 28 seconds after beginning to cross in front of the bus. Si's bus started turning left about 22 seconds after Yi and her co-worker started crossing in front of the bus.

The report said Yi was probably in a blind spot caused by his side mirror and a pillar, but that it was Si's responsibility "to adjust his view to clear the blind spot and ensure that his intended path of travel is safe."